Bibliotherapy is the use of reading material for therapeutic purposes. It encourages empathy and social development as well as strengthens a positive attitude towards reading. While we read, we forget about ourselves and the reality surrounding us, and we are temporarily transformed into a different person. This helps us discover hidden layers of personality, which makes literature a possible therapeutic agent. It is especially hard for children to sometimes recognize and express their feelings, but we can help them with fairy tales. With the help of identifying with the heroes, catharsis and insights, they find it easier to express their feelings and communicate their problems. During the whole process of bibliotherapy, kindergarten teacher role is very important, because we have to identify a child’s problem, find an appropriate and well-written fairy tale, and perform bibliotherapy. A good fairy tale offers children new possibilities for facing their problems, new solutions and ways of confronting their problems more successfully.
In this diploma thesis, I wanted to research how to use an appropriate fairy tale as a bibliotherapeutic agent in kindergarten and devise a list of fairy tales for solving different problems. In the theoretical part, I introduce bibliotherapy and its process. I describe in detail the guidelines for performing bibliotherapy in children. I also specify the functions of a fairy tale, especially its therapeutic value. In the last chapter, I present the classification of fairy tales by their discussed problem (death, family troubles, fear, accepting differences, friendship, problems with food). This classification was also used in the empirical part of the diploma thesis, in which I devise a list of fairy tales that can be used as a bibliotherapeutic agent for solving a certain problem.
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